The focus is on the fundamentals of moulding materials and binders and the most important mould and core production processes for lost moulds and cores as well as the most important aspects of the metallurgy of ferrous and non-ferrous casting materials, melting furnaces and melt treatment and analysis processes. In addition, students are given an overview of modern production processes in foundries, the design of foundry surfaces, the post-treatment of castings and quality management.

This specialisation deals with the production technology of semi-finished metal products (such as sheets, strips, wires, tubes, etc.) using forming technologies (such as rolling, forging, drawing, etc.). The lectures cover all technological stages along the production path from the solidified preliminary product to the semi-finished product, their special features and their influence on the final properties of the product to be manufactured. The fundamentals of forming technology as well as technological process chains and their numerical simulation, including their interaction with material behaviour, are presented in detail.

The specialization offers students a fundamental and applied understanding of the partly directly and indirectly coupled/connected primary and secondary production (recycling) of non-ferrous metals. This includes the production of non-ferrous metals such as copper, nickel, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, tin, lead, and zinc, and the high-tech metals such as germanium, gallium, indium, rhenium and the rare earths (lanthanides, partly with the actinides) from primary and secondary resources, whereby valuable metals (such as silver, gold, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium) are also treated. For this purpose, pyro-, hydro- and electrometallurgical processes are required, which are described, presented, analyzed and evaluated both theoretically (including modeling and simulation) and experimentally. Specific selected examples of manufacturing and recycling include metals and metal scrap, batteries/accumulators, electrical and electronic waste (WEEE), metallurgical dusts and residues, and slags.

The specialisation focuses on fundamental concepts and new trends in the technology and production of ferrous materials. It includes the investigation of iron and steel production, primary and secondary metallurgy, casting, the cleaning of crude steel, the optimisation of manufacturing processes, material properties and structures and the evaluation of end products. Global trends such as decarbonisation, increasing energy efficiency and the circular economy are key topics in the lectures of this specialisation.